Decentralisation forges
ahead
by Linda McGrory
A TOTAL of 93 civil servants have been assigned to
Buncrana's €21m decentralised offices and will begin
the move when the building is completed this autumn,
the Department of Social and Family Affairs has
confirmed.
A further 25 staff will be assigned to the
state-of-the-art offices at New Road, Ardaravan, in
2010.
The confirmation came as the chief of a leading
think-tank described the decentralisation programme as "a
disaster" that needed to be reversed.
Under decentralisation, 118 posts in the Department
of Social and Family Affairs are scheduled to be
relocated to Buncrana.
A spokesperson for the Department yesterday told
InishowenNews.com:
"To date, 73 staff have been assigned to Business
Units (sections within the Department) relocating to
Buncrana with a further 20 staff taking up positions
in the autumn. The remaining staff will be assigned
in 2010.
"Work on a new building in Buncrana commenced
towards the end of 2007 and
the expected completion date of the project is the
autumn of 2009. The
assignment of staff to Buncrana will commence as
soon as the building is
available."
The arrival of nearly 100 workers later this year
will be a welcome boost to the seaside town as it
struggles with the economic downturn.
The building will also house the new Garda HQ while
staff at the local social welfare office at Castle
Avenue - as well as the queue on signing on day -
will also relocate to New Road. Shops and businesses
at Ardaravan Square, at least, are likely to get a
bounce from the move.
The decentralised office and Garda station will be
housed over three floors while the new dole offices
will be housed over two. Yesterday's clarification
from the Department came after Professor John
Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research
Institute (ESRI) called for the Government's
programme of decentralisation to be reversed. He
told RTE that further decentralisation would make
the public sector very inefficient. He said the
Cabinet should also implement up to €2.6bn of the
recommendations made in Colm McCarthy's 'Bord Snip'
report. |
